


Recommendations

by motherstone



Series: Writings [9]
Category: Amulet (Graphic Novels)
Genre: Books, Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Selectively mute, do not worry folks he is ok, something real simple this time., wow! A not so super angsty work where Trellis gets hurt!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24686278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherstone/pseuds/motherstone
Summary: Trellis just wanted to spend some time with Emily.What could be the ideal approach except to share what he enjoys best?
Relationships: Emily Hayes & Trellis
Series: Writings [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/831852
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Recommendations

**Author's Note:**

> Eyy, something simple for once.

“No one is forcing you read it, Emily.” He says in exasperation.

“Really?” she scoffs, removing the book from her face. “You’re the one who asked me to.”

“It’s just a suggestion,” Trellis reasoned, in his hands also another book. It was thicker than his arm. “Nothing more. I just —” his gaze flitted away, mouth curled, “— I just thought you might like it.”

Emily grimaced. He sounded a bit rather hurt. “Ehh hmm, yeah, reading is fine I suppose —” she leans back on the couch, arms on the back,“ — but I’m pretty sure this hobby is reserved for people over 30 with poor vision.”

She cringes. “But uhh you know what? I can be open-minded.”

Trellis just rolled his eyes. His attention returns to the book, leaving Emily in embarrassed silence.

She fidgets for a few minutes, a question nagging at her. So she spoke.

“Still, Trellis — why books?” she leans forward, elbows on her knees, curious. “You could pick anything else like —” she gestures vaguely, searching for examples but her pause was taking so long, that it incurred an incredulous look from Trellis. “Like — building stuff or sports or games and whatnot.”

She shook her head. But Trellis didn’t respond immediately, yet rather seems a bit lost in thought. He closes the book and gingerly places it on the table. Emily was about to assume he didn’t understand the question when the silence goes on for too long, when he finally speaks.

“When I first came to my uncle and brother…” he falters, his gaze downwards and away from her, uneasy. She can see him swallow, and then sighing.

“I couldn’t read,” it was quiet, she almost didn’t catch it if she wasn’t expecting it — she knows by now that Trellis forgets to speak up to audible degrees. “I couldn’t write. I can speak but…” he trails off, voice wavering.

“After, after the things that happened before that…”

“I find myself unable to.” he says.

“It was hard for them. And harder for me.” he looked desolate.

“Interacting with the adults was just so…” his hand curls into a fist so tight she can see it tremble, “So terrifying. I can’t think in their presence. I-I just felt suffocated and trapped.” A haunted look overcomes his eyes.

“But people my age — it was—” a deep, shaky breath, “— it was worse, somehow. They asked so many questions, they wanted to know so many things about me and I — I can’t confront my own memories at that time. It was — too much.”

Emily stays silent. It feels wrong to interrupt him.

“It got my uncle worried deeply. He told me I was like a husk of a child, and that it scared them I was never going to get out of my head.”

Trellis closes his eyes, and a bit of the tension leaves his shoulders.

“So my uncle decided to read to me instead.”

“And… And it felt calm,” he says softly. “Warm. There wasn’t any questions, so it was easy. It was fun too, without all the danger. I didn’t have to talk to anyone, so I didn’t get scared.”

He opens his eyes, and this time, they had a hint if sadness. “It became my source of solace ever since.”

Trellis lays his hands flat on his lap, staring at them as if they’re the most interesting things in the world. “I enjoy reading. I really, really like learning new things. I don’t mind talking to people now, but I always see libraries as my home.”

His fingers then fidget with one another, and with a timid voice, he says, “I-I thought, just maybe —”

“Geez, you’re such an introverted bunch,” she says airily, leaning back against the sofa once again.

“Guess I should have expected from a nerd like you.” And, she sees Trellis frown at the unfamiliar word. “Also, you’re surprisingly talkative whenever the topic of books comes up.”

His cheeks flushes and his ears curve downwards. “Ah, uhm, pardon, I’ll try to restrain myself in the future.” he says, flustered.

Emily shook her head. “I’ll get used to it.”

She picks up her book, and gives him an encouraging smile. “Say, wanna tell me what this one’s all about?”


End file.
